The Portland daily press., 1887-03-28
RosLINpALE DISASTER.
The Commissioners Investigation
Into Its Cause.
More Testimony About the Broken
Brake Beam.
The Cars DeraiIed Before Reaching
the Bridge.
Expert Testimony of Prof. George
L. vose.

BOSTON, March 25.--At 1890 O'Clock this
morning the board of railroad commits
sioners resumed their Investigation into the
causes OF the Roslindale disaster, Mr.. Israel
q. Whitney of West Roxbury testified; |
live on Cottage avenue, West Roxbury and
am presidentsof the Merchandise National
Bank Have never felt any fear of the
bridge Never heard any complaint of the
bridge but once, when a person, whose
name do not know, remarked to Mr.. Balch,
'that iron bridge is in bad way" This
was on the o'clock afternoon train one day.
do not think that Mr.. Balch. heard it, as he
was in the act of rising to leave the car. It
wps couple Of weeks or SO befcse the acci-
dent.
Mr.. Balch, on being recalled, said that he
had no recollection of any such remark hay-
ing been made.
Mr.. James Folsom was recalled, and to
reply to Mr.. Crocker deposed: / consider
myself competent to judge between a new
ana an old break in a piece of bar iron.
some OF the breaks saw after the accident
were new and some old. ! found, as indi-
eating the cause of the disaster, an iron
brake beam with a groove in it, as if the
pr nrake shoe had fallen. found it under all
.ne otner ueQrlS at the Boston end of the
NS1dge e ths ana fth should say It belonged to
peam was not injured. The broken one
could nave been injured and marked up as il
was simply the falling of the wreck upon it.
l. ! saved L the beam for evidence. A man
wreck for me, told me that he had found q
piece OF proken iron casting, used to hold mn
z brake beam, about 200 yards from the
99rldge, and ne traced the mark of the beam
dragging on the rail clear to the bridge. MT.
B L.. Davis also told me the same thing. II
showed the next morning, SO that / could not
LOOK 1or myself. My theory is that the
trucks under the first car were the first to be
oeralled then those trucks under the second
ana tnird cars. cannot say what the cause
ol tne uerallment was. As for those hang
ers, they were broken from the force of the
snock. think that both the fourth and
nItn cars were thrown over before the
bridge gave way. This was not until the
momentum OF their fall was sufficient to pull
along those cars that were behind. SO that
the sixth car struck an enormous biow unnn
the Joint block and hangers. | am further
connrmed In this theory by the fact that
after the fall. the front Of the fourth car
was Iound at some distance from the abut-,
ment L don't consider that the broken
brake beam had anything to do with the
disaster. AS to the derailment of the front
car, can only say that if the air brakes
were put on voluntarily by the engineer. as
l nave noticed ON that bridge, the first car,
being stiff and new, might be thrown off the
track by the sudden strain. / am certain
that cars have gone over that bridge with
tne brakes on. Sometimes, when a train is
gong too fast, the engineer puts on the
brake to anticipate the down grade Just be-
being worked ON the bridge. Witness fur
tner explained his theory to Mr. Crocker.
without the bridge having given way. the
trucks OF the third car were struck and de-
Iailed by the trucks of the second car as the
tnlra car came upon the abutment and the
trucks OF the third car fell into the wreck.
Inc second car trucks | found on the edge
OF the abutment. The fourth and fifth cars
went over the side of the bridge, and as the
sixth car went over it struck the compress
sion member-or upright standard of iron
connecting the bridge with the stone abut-
ment-and carried away the rest of the
bridge. l cannot believe.that the bridge was
weak. The blow on the angle block was
enough TO demolish any structure / always
1eit Just as safe in riding over that bridge
as any part OF the road. | consider that the
road bed was heavy enough for the business
that was being done.
Mr.. George L.. Vose of Milton. formerly n
teacher at the Institute of Technology, testi-
nea tnat ne was at one time teacher of
civil engineering at Bowdoin College. Maine.
and that during his stay there he worried
the life out of the Maine railroad commits
sloners on account og the miserable bridges
tnat there were in that State" Mr. Vose
further testified: / had never seen the
prluge, Un the morning Of the accident l
went to the spot and saw the big casting on
the end OF the Hewins truss. l saw Captain
FOLSOM and told him that there was in the
broken iron some very valuable evidence
wnlcn sneuld be preserved, as they would
De wanted IN the investigation. | put the
pieces, 1our IN number, in the charge of two
workmen, but in spite of my caution, one
OF the valuable pieces disappeared. and |
learned that Mr.. Brooks knew who had
carried them off-a Mr.. Pritchard of the En-
gineering News. Mr.. Wellington's dispatch
was misleading. Ihad no desire to help the
road In covering up anything. On the con-
trary, Capt Folsom instructed all his men
carefully to save all broken pieces which
could throw any light on the cause of the
In reply to Mr. Crocker as to his sources
of information, witness raised a laugh by in
dlgnantly repudiating the traditional 'spow-
er OF the press. by exclaiming; ''No siri |
nave not read the newspapers about this ac-
eIuent. Ihere is altogether too much trash
In the newspapers. Reporters are too pre-
mature In their conclusions, and wanted
the company to have fair show. | think
the bridge, in its plan and details, was a
STANDING invitation to be knocked to pieces
Inc broken links or hangers were the pri-
mary cause OF the accident. Any accident
to the cars might be the last straw but the
bridge was weak and faulty. No truss ought
to be built in sections, but should be one
long, continuous rod or bar of iron. ANY
sldeway pressure would throw out a Joint.
but would have no preceptible effect on a
solid bar. The wooden truss was
miserable trap at the start, and that's why
think it was built to be knocked to pieces
l stood on my head in the mud for a long
time, so as to examine the breaks in the
hangers. After we have made as close cal
culations as we caD," he said to Mr.. Williams
who was trying to learn how mechanical en-
glneers made their tests of links, hangers
ana other supports, s'we add about 600 per
cent to cover up what we don't know"
witness, testified as to his opinion that
skew bridge can be built as strongly as a
square bridge if money enough is put into
the structure. The different defiections of
the TWO trusses of a skew bridge prove moth.
ing. They naturally would defect different
ly, as the strain would come upon them at
different points from their centres
Witness. admitted, under cross-examina-
ton, that bridges similar in construction to
that at Bussey woods were largely built ten
years ago by reputable bridge builders. That
IL.